Where is this number coming from? Newton signed a 4 year, $2.1 million deal as a rookie in 2011. This is the last year of his contract at $645,000. Newton made an additional $175k in "performance pay" last year. No, I'm not joking.

The Texans would take a dead money cap hit of about $15k ($60k/4) with a net savings of about 630k if Newton is released. Not much there. The Texans haven't signed any OTs, and the draft is still a month away. No need to make that move now. And as BigBull suggests, the Texans may want to look at Newton at guard.